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Olivia Benson
Joseph Hollister Simon Marsden |status = Alive |first = Payback |seriesfirst = SVU |playedby = Mariska Hargitay}} Olivia Benson is a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. She was partnered with Elliot Stabler for over 12 years until he left. Family Olivia Benson was most likely born in 1968(no birthdate has been given in the show). She was the product of the 1967 rape of Serena Benson by a food salesman named Joseph Hollister, who later committed suicide. At the time of the rape, Serena had been working in the cafeteria of Columbia University. Olivia mother Serena was an abusive alcoholic she emotionally abused Olivia. Olivia Benson has a half-brother, Simon Marsden. She didn't find out about her brother until they were both adults after she illegally ran her DNA through a kinship analysis. Serena died from injuries sustained in a fall when she was drunk in an episode of season 2, Taken. Personality Olivia is deeply empathetic with victims of sex crimes and as a result, she is often quick to believe victim's stories. Her partner Elliot Stabler is often more skeptical of victim's accounts, which often brings the two partners into conflict. Olivia's ability to empathize with victims is a tremendous asset, but there are times when it comes back to haunt her. She went undercover in a women's prison to find a rapist and was almost raped herself until Detective Odafin Tutuola, also undercover there as a guard of the facility, managed to save her just moments before the man, who was a fellow guard, abused her. Afterwards, Olivia developed a severe case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but has been receiving counseling for the assault and has been seen dealing with it more constructively. While speaking to a victim of a separate rape, the victim asked her if she was better having dealt with her rapist, and Olivia told her that she was better, but that she wouldn't ever forget what happened. Skills and Abilities Benson speaks some Spanish, Italian, Russian , and French and is able to read the Miranda rights in two or three other languages. Season 3, Prodigy She is a recreational mountain climber , and climbed on her own time with her co-worker Monique Jeffries. Season 1, Hysteria Early Life In Philadelphia (2007) and Florida (2007) Olivia finds out about the man who raped her mother, and others. He knew about his daughter and kept track of her. He once tried to call her but got Serena instead. Olivia was a graduate of Siena College (Stalked). In the pilot episode Payback, Olivia and Serena seemed to care about each other a great deal. Serena was worried about Olivia working in the Special Victims Unit. Then in Taken (2000) Serena dies as the result of a fall down the subway stairs across from a bar. Olivia says Serena was a drunk. In Abuse (2000) Olivia becomes involved with a child who was neglected by her parents that way Olivia felt neglected by her mother. In Wanderlust (1999) Olivia said she was in love with an older man and that she "couldn't have loved him more." In Intoxicated (2005) Olivia tells Casey Novak about an incident when she was 16. An older student of her mother asked her to marry him and when she told Serena that she was leaving, her mother who had been drinking flew into a rage and went after her with a broken bottle. Olivia kicked her mother into a wall and ran to Simone Bryce for help. After arguing with ADA Sonya Paxton about alcoholism and seeing her drunk in court, she was moved to leave flowers at her mother's grave. Relationships Olivia has had atrocious luck when it has come to the area of dating and interpersonal relationships. She had a one night stand with, Brian Cassidy, her co-worker in the first season. She ended it the next day because he wanted something more. One boyfriend, Marshal Andy Eckerson, seemed to have a death-wish. Another man she dated, reporter Nick Ganzner, was seeing her to get information about a serial rapist she was looking for. A third, ADA Jeffrey York, later turned out to be gay, and was murdered by his colleague, Andy Abott. York had HIV at the time of his death, and thus Olivia had to be tested for the disease. Fortunately, the test came back negative. More recently, Olivia dated a newspaper editor, Kurt Moss, but this fell apart when a tabloid writer at Moss' paper outed Lincoln Havers, a high-profile professional quarterback who happened to be a suspect in a murder that Benson was investigating. Naturally, Havers' attorney accused the NYPD of leaking Havers's sexuality to the press, and the NYPD in turn tried to scapegoat Benson for it. It was ultimately proven that Havers's agent was the real leak. Benson decided to break up with Moss, who had asked her to move in with him. She also had a brief relationship with her former case worker, Dean Porter. She tricked him with a brief date and kiss for a case. The case ended in him lying to her and breaking her heart. His last words were: "Our feelings don't matter." He then left her in an empty interrogating room with tears in her eyes. Detective Benson begins to develop feelings for new Executive Assistant District Attorney David Haden , and also doesn't mind that he is a father. At the end of the episode, she and him kiss each other good-night. They stayed in a relationship until they broke up due to a conflict of interest. Relationship with Elliot Stabler ''Main Article: ''Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson Benson's partner for her first twelve years on the job is Elliot Stabler (it is considered outside policy for partners to enter into a romantic relationship in New York City). Their relationship is not without friction, as the two sometimes argue over the cases they work on; Benson is quicker to side with the victims while Stabler is slower to assume that victims are telling the truth. In "Burned" Stabler's wife, Kathy said she worried that Elliot preferred to be with Olivia rather than with herself and the kids. Combined with his long hours on the job and away from home, Stabler's work at SVU placed considerable strain on their marriage, eventually culminating in their separation; they later reconciled before the divorce became final. Olivia has been asked throughout various episodes if she is attracted to, or has ever slept with Elliot. The answer is always in the negative. The writers as well as the actors think the relationship is more like a brother/sister relationship. The fact that Dick Wolf named the characters for his son, Elliot and daughter, Olivia, confirms this intent . (The two actors, Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, have joked about the sexual tension. On set they seem like two very good friends.) Trivia * Olivia survived being cut in the neck trying to catch child killer Victor Paul Gitano. * Olivia lives in apartment 4D (although season 13 has seen it change to 4E). * Olivia´s blood type is A positive. * Olivia was in a sorority in her college years * In the episode "Trophy", the daughter of a rape victim gives Olivia the parental rights to her son, Calvin Arliss, after supposedly killing her mother's rapist. In "Rescue", these rights are revoked by Calvin's mother and he is sent to Child Services before finalizing his sending to Vermont with his grandparents. Calvin and his grandparents would later come to visit Olivia in the Season 13 episode "Missing Pieces." * Olivia's shield number is 4015. * Olivia carries a Glock 19 as her sidearm and also used a SIG-Sauer P228 during the episode "PTSD" * Olivia was onces hospitalized after being exposed to pesticides. * Olivia was onces hospitalized after being exposed to mushrooms. She started to blurt out things like: 'We know that you stabbed the captain with the pickle,' then she fainted. * Olivia once kicked her mother into a wall. She told her mother that she was getting married to one of her mother's students. Her mother broke her bottle, then she picked up a piece and came after her screaming: 'I will never let any one else have you.' * Olivia was once a suspect in a murder. * Olivia had to interupt two dates when called to a crime scene. * Olivia has posed as a prostitute to help her partner out in the episode 'Wildlife'. She also posed as one in the episode 'Strain'. She was a junkie two times: once in a prison ('Undercover') and once to capture a man in the act (he claimed to help her out, then he touched her). She was Elliot Stabler's wife two times. Once to stop an illegal adoption, for which the mother was killed and raped, and once when Elliot was undercover in smuggling drugs. She was once a madam and once a woman named Donna at a bar. * Olivia had kissed Dean Porter ('Spooked') to provoke him into calling a suspect so they could figure out where she was. * Olivia is taken hostage 5 times. Once because an escaped prisoner wants revenge because his stepson put him in prison, while he was innocent. Another time when a woman, mad with rage, had takes a gun from a police officer. The woman is very angry at her ex, because of the death of her son. Everyone thought the woman was guilty, she would have gotten him kidnapped because her parental rights were revoked. As it turned out, the husband did it to set her up. In this hostage situation Melinda Warner gets shot and gets a collapsed lung. Olivia drains the blood with a tube. In the episode 'Spooked', a drugbaron uses Olivia to get out of the airport, saying that his cellphone is a gun, which is true. He is shot by Dean Porter. They later find out it was to shut him up, not to save Olivia. When the man drops dead, Olivia apear to be as well. Elliot rushes over, very concerned, and then he hugs her. Olivia is also taken hostage by Merritt Rook. He uses her for the Milgram experiment. He wanted Elliot to hurt Olivia by pressing a button, which he was unable to do. Merritt Rook escaped, and apeared to be dead. The last time was in Season 13, episode 'Fathers Shadow'. The son of the man she had put in jail takes his girlfriend and her daughter hostage. Olivia gets him to trade the two for her, since he shot his girlfriend in her leg. When he feels like it doesn't matter anymore he walks to the window, wanting to get shot. Olivia saves him from this and everyone returns safely. Aliases Olivia is often referred to as "Liv" by her squadmates instead of Olivia. Olivia used the undercover alias Rachel Martin to visit reporter Jackson Zane when he was imprisoned for writing an article about Michael Delpit's theft of several dozen vials of anthrax. She also called herself Rachel while she was having dinner with Mike Jergens. She was trying to observe him enough to prove that he was a rapist. Olivia used the alias Persephone James while investigating an environmental activist group undercover in Oregon for the FBI. In the episode "Undercover", she used the alias Katrina Ray Lewis when she went undercover to help bust a corrections officer suspected of raping and killing inmates. In "Risk" Olivia poses in a bar as a woman named Donna. She once used the name Beth, whilst undercover with Elliott (using the name Glenn) as a married couple trying to adopt a child in "Ace" In "Hothouse", she posed as a woman named Claudia needing young girls for escorting men. In "Beef", Olivia went undercover as Tania the Russian woman cleaner at Donna Rosa's Meats Notes * Olivia considers herself to be "best friends" with her partner Elliot Stabler * As then now, in 2 episodes on Season 13, Olivia with her friendship with her temporary ADA Casey Novak, they have no interest with each other at this time. References de:Olivia Benson{C fr:Olivia Benson Category:SVU Characters Category:New York City Police Department Category:Special Victims Unit Category:Detectives Category:Females